Beware of sex, drink and medicine in UAE

[claybro]

I believe most people are mindful of local customs and laws when travelling. I guess the problem arrises when cities/countries advertise themselves as world destinations, and yet are not prepared to cut visitors some slack, or worse still set out to show them up as an example of Western decadence. Buddhist, Hindu, Christian countries worldwide largely accept other customs, religions and even superstitions from travellers and citizens, in fact celebrate the difference, they have largely separated religion and government. However there is a common thread of the Islamic countries that they are intollerant even to the point of law of other cultures. There is no problem with that, each to their own,and no one forces anyone to travel there,(except Qantas) but they should not promote themselves as an anything goes party destination, then enact laws that violate internationally recognised human rights.

[monotonehell]

off topic i know, and still UAE related, but focused on Adelaide due to the newly introduced Emirates flights.

http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/tra ... -game#full

Heh old photo of Glenelg Tram makes me a tiny bit sad... but it's a mention in a market where they are trying to bolster the four flights a week. Can do no harm.

[Ho Really]

In the news a few days ago and follows on from the opening post.

Jailing business visitor after she was raped shames Dubai
Written by Peter Needham

In a case with disturbing implications for visitors to Dubai, a 25-year-old businesswoman from Norway has been sentenced to 16 months in prison in the Gulf state after she reported to local police that she had been raped.

The case is chillingly similar to that of Alicia Gali, an Australian who earlier this year described how she was jailed in Dubai for eight months after being raped at Le Méridien Al Aqah hotel while working for the Starwood hotel chain there.

In the latest case, Norwegian Marte Deborah Dalelv, an interior designer, has come forward and released her name to help publicise her case. Visiting Dubai on a business trip, she says she was assaulted and raped by a co-worker in a hotel room. She reported it to hotel reception and asked the hotel to contact police immediately. To her shock, however, she found that not only did the police disbelieve her, they locked her up on suspicion of having had sex outside marriage.

Police confiscated Dalelv’s passport and would not let her make phone calls for days. She was finally allowed to phone her family and the Norwegian consulate and was released into the protection of the Norwegian Sailor’s Church in Dubai until her sentencing this week, a Mail Online report said.

“I received the harshest sentence for sex outside marriage, harshest sentence for drinking alcohol and on top of that I was found guilty of perjury,” she told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.

The priest at the Norwegian Sailor’s Church in Dubai, Gisle Meling, told the paper: “We are very surprised and had hoped it would go another way, but we live in a country which has a justice system which draws its conclusions with the help of Sharia law.”

The young Norwegian woman’s ordeal follows a string of similarly disturbing incidents in a country which is receiving more western visitors than ever because of its position as a world airline hub and international business centre.

Dubai, an emirate belonging to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is a place where international visitors and foreign workers greatly outnumber citizens.

The case of Australian Alicia Gali, 27, saw her jailed for eight months in Dubai after reporting her rape. Gali had been working for Starwood when her drink was allegedly spiked in the staff bar. (Starwood is heavily involved in Dubai and earlier this year relocated its global headquarters from Stamford, Connecticut to Dubai for a month.)

Gali says three colleagues raped her in the incident in 2008. When she went to a hospital for help, the hospital turned her over to the police, who charged her with illicit sex outside marriage.

Under Sharia-influenced laws, sex outside marriage is completely forbidden. Rape appears to count as sex. Rapists can be convicted only if they confess, or if four adult Muslim males witness the crime. An unmarried couple holding hands in public can be jailed.

Last year, a British woman, allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped by three men in Dubai, was prosecuted for drinking without a licence and fined about AUD 250. While alcohol is sold in Dubai, public intoxication can bring charges.

Human Rights Watch says the UAE does not do enough to protect victims of sexual assault – and visitors can be caught up as well as residents. Victims reporting crimes often end up being charged themselves.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) warns Australian travellers visiting the UAE to “be aware that local laws and penalties, including ones that appear harsh by Australian standards, do apply to you.

“De facto relationships, homosexual relationships and acts, adultery and prostitution are illegal and subject to severe punishment. Sex outside of marriage is illegal and may lead to imprisonment. It is also against the law in the UAE to live together or share the same hotel room with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not married or closely related. These laws apply to residents as well as visitors.

“The UAE has a zero tolerance policy towards illegal drugs,” DFAT adds.

“Penalties can include the death sentence or life imprisonment. Medications available over the counter or by prescription in Australia may be illegal in the UAE.”

[...]

Global Travel Media

If I was a single woman traveller I would be more than wary, I would consider boycotting the UAE. The same goes if I was Jewish, Gay or infidel...!

Cheers